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I don't think anyone who's following the anime would be so easily confused.

Have we been reading the same episode topics? There are tons of people who miss the important details, as well as understandably fail to notice how much time passes between each episode. At the beginning of episode 8 there's the clear "it's been 2 years" line, but even then people might forget when episode 2 happened, or even question whether a year is a "real" year. Yes, that's been questioned and I have no idea why.

Episode was good.
However I'm disappointed in duel. I thought it would have more oompf to it.
Basically 1st hit duel, Kirito got first hit but it seems that game didn't consider that a hit even though clifafafafawhatshisname hp went down by around 10-15% hp.

Spoiler for Novel explanation of mechanics.:

It's one of those details that gets glossed over in adaption. First hit duel is actually first clean hit. Glancing blows that just scratch don't cut it unless you get the HP down to 50%. You have to land a solid, unblocked blow like Heathcliff did at the end.

As a non LN reader, I was very surprised when Kirito grew his hand back out. The scene felt very dramatic when he sacrificed himself for Asuna and I though "Oh damn, no more dual wield for you" but then they didn't mention it again and back at the house everything was fine (!?).
I've seen cuts and the sort heal but never something as big as a hand.

Have we been reading the same episode topics? There are tons of people who miss the important details, as well as understandably fail to notice how much time passes between each episode. At the beginning of episode 8 there's the clear "it's been 2 years" line, but even then people might forget when episode 2 happened, or even question whether a year is a "real" year. Yes, that's been questioned and I have no idea why.

Well, put it this way: if people are paying so little attention that they can't piece together the basic facts presented in the episodes, then we can't really expect them to understand anything. Is that the show's fault, or is that people's fault for watching the show half-heartedly?

In the end, even if people haven't been paying attention to the dates, the relationship build-up has been quite methodical. I suppose jumping all the way to in-game marriage was a bit sudden, but that was carefully foreshadowed as well. I don't think there's any problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yumii-chan

As a non LN reader, I was very surprised when Kirito grew his hand back out. The scene felt very dramatic when he sacrificed himself for Asuna and I though "Oh damn, no more dual wield for you" but then they didn't mention it again and back at the house everything was fine (!?).
I've seen cuts and the sort heal but never something as big as a hand.

Well, it's not like he actually lost a hand for real -- it was just in the game. If he gets healed in-game, I assume the hand will come back. But I can see how him losing his hand permanently would have been a pretty dramatic twist, but it might be weird to have that sort of "permanent damage" in a game where your health is only really defined by your HP and status effects.

This would've been a pretty gruesome episode if it wasn't for the fact that they're stuck in a virtual world. That stuff Kuradeel was doing to Kirito and Godfrey was messed up. I knew he would turn out to be an antagonist but I never guessed it was because he just got a kick out of killing others.

And Heathcliff has a unique skill too. I wonder if the time-freezing that won him the duel had anything to do with it?

And yeah, I'm pleased with how the romance between Kirito and Asuna was treated in this series. Before this episode it was all very subtle, there was no concrete evidence (only hinting) that Kirito or Asuna liked each other, but their feelings were growing stronger and stronger incognito despite that. All it took was one drastic push to have them pour out. I also really liked Kirito's proactive-ness, by engaging the first kiss and proposing himself. That's not something you see very often in anime.

As for a some extra thoughts:

I still find some of SAO's virtual realism weird. Such like being able to cry actual tears or being able to actually physically kiss somebody else. The limitations of it all is just very inconsistent and can sometimes make scenes a bit more silly than they should be.

I find it interesting one can actually use skills without having a sword equipped. I imagine the offensive power is drastically lower, but it's cool to see a sword isn't a necessity to fight in this game.

And lastly, what the hell happened to Kirito's hand? Did it just grow back after he was healed or something?

Anyway, really good episode (arguably the best so far) that covered a lot of bases. I'm sure anyone who watched this one would be greatly pleased.

Woo.. Asuna, naked on the bed, covered only in sheets! Kirito you dog, you got it good huh? With 1, 2, 3, 4 GIRLS gunning for your macho mania, I'm amazed Kirito isn't a pimp yet. Or he could be an unconscious pimp.

Damn good eps though.

As for Kirito's hand, consider it like a status effect. You have "crippled hand" or limb for xxx amount of time until it wears off or you go to a doctor or something to have it healed. Kinda like Fallout games where you get critical hit in the limbs etc.

I know it's a game, but I thought maybe it worked something like: Lose hand in game = Lose sense/ability to move hand in real life

That'd be pretty harsh! I guess it's sort of befitting a game where death in the game = death in real life, but I think that would be a bit too stiff a penalty. But yeah, it would be dramatic in this case.

I still find some of SAO's virtual realism weird. Such like being able to cry actual tears or being able to actually physically kiss somebody else. The limitations of it all is just very inconsistent and can sometimes make scenes a bit more silly than they should be.

Kissing is just touching, isn't it? If you can pat someone on the shoulder, you can kiss. We don't know all the details about tongues and whatnot, but I don't think we really need to know. As for tears, who says they're real tears? Plenty of games have "emotes". The game just needs to recognize "they're crying now" and turn on the sadface. It's no different from yelling or smiling.

Quote:

And lastly, what he hell happened to Kirito's hand? Did it just grow back after he was healed or something?

If you look at his health bar in the scene shortly after, you can see that "missing a hand" is actually a status effect he has. It's probably curable in any number of ways. Might even just run out over time.

I liked it, but i found the pacing a bit off... too many things happen in a very little time frame.
In the novel is the same amount of content but feels like there is time going on.

Well, different media and all, and I know they are rushing it because the second part of the series, but still.

The duel should have been longer, was pretty badass but was over in a instant. The murder part was good as well, but like not enough time to digest it properly. The confession part as well, there were more moments in the novel that allowed for good understanding of what was going in their heads, here is ok, but too quick... IMO though.

EDIT: also i missed the social explanation of the couple and "ethics off" command of the game. Not like doing it, but it was part of the explanation to understand what Asuna was trying to do.

Damn, this ep was amazing! An excellent battle btw two of the strongest(known) chars in the game. I'm willing to bet that Heathcliff used a special skill to regain his footing in that instant, and was disgusted that he had to use another 'trump' card to not lose and win.

The strong romantic part as well. The Kirito/Asuna parts almost put a tear in my eye. Kirito almost dying, giving up at first, but desperately trying to stay alive once he thought about Asuna; protecting her by losing a hand and, subsequently, becoming a murderer; How he placed his life in her hands, with both having the ideal of wanting to protect each other; asking Asuna to marry him; all of these were well implemented to really get me empathizing with their relationship much more compared to previous girls(I still love Liz though =03).

This also has me a bit worried for the future. When two chars like these two form such a special bond in an environment where you can lose the other with just a small misstep, I can only hope that things don't go to the point where one perishes in the end(Casshern SINS's romantic couple comes to mind, though that was more of the 'guarantee of slowly losing your lover' theme, which is far more sad). My heart won't be able to take it (;_.

As a non LN reader, I was very surprised when Kirito grew his hand back out.

I was more surprised by the fact that the hand came off... limb dismemberment is typically a feature reserved for truly hardcore games, not the kind of general demographic that SAO seems to be targeting.

But since it's a game, there's got to be some healing mechanic to restore lost limbs - no one wants to play a cripple permanently. Except maybe hardcore roleplayers.

Heathcliff, Heathcliff, no one should
terrorize his neighborhood
well Heathcliff just won't be undone
playing tricks on everyone...

Kudos if you get the picture of what the above means =03.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clarste

Nice to see a shield user treated with some respect.

Indeed =03. One would think a shield user, esp a shield of that size would be slow. I was impressed by how he used his shield to defend against both of Kirito's swords(meaning he has great accuracy and dexterity with his shield) and used his sword only to attack. Most shield users defend with their swords too(through parrying or sword-to-sword clashing), but he only used his sword to attack. Again, I was super impressed.